Downing Street has insisted RAF Fairford is secure a day after the US air force suddenly withdrew a dozen B-1 bombers that had been stationed at the Gloucestershire base amid security concerns about a possible threat from Iran.
The prime minister’s official spokesperson, speaking during a scheduled briefing, said “yes” when asked if the military site was safe – contrasting with the concern showed by the US military during the hasty redeployment the day before.
Pointing to comments made last week by the defence secretary, Wes Streeting, the official said there were “tried and tested approaches to defend our bases around the country and throughout the world”, highlighting protection of the airbase.
Aircraft trackers reported that an entire squadron of 12 B-1 bombers based at Fairford had redeployed from the British base to the US on Sunday, a rapid movement that was confirmed by the Pentagon on Sunday evening.
US officials told the New York Times that commanders had received new threats about an Iran-backed plot against the site. Some of the bombers left so quickly that refuelling aircraft had to be scrambled to support their flights to the US.
Marco Rubio, the US secretary of state, said on Monday military deployments were normal and they tried to downplay any discrepancies with the UK. He said that the US was confident in the security of all its bases and “with the Brits, we’ve worked very closely a long time, including on this investigation, and they couldn’t be more cooperative”.
Downing Street’s comments were the first made by British authorities in the light of the US withdrawal. No comment was made by the Ministry of Defence or Gloucestershire police when asked if there was any additional threat to residents near the base. Other UK officials indicated they had not been briefed on US thinking.
RAF Fairford has already been on high alert for several weeks amid a heightened American concern that Tehran might try to instigate an attack on the base, which had been used for US air force bombing runs against Iran earlier this year. In July, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said the base was a legitimate military target.
It is unclear what level of threat Iran could pose to a military base in the heart of the UK, though Iran has destroyed US planes on the tarmac during fighting earlier this year. Missiles fired from Iran may be able to reach the UK but would likely be shot down first; a drone attack would be a high-risk operation close to the base.
Developments in the UK have not so far matched the apparant level of the US warnings. At the end of September five men from London driving white vans to Whelford, a village by the base, were arrested in the small hours on suspicion of carrying explosives.
No explosive devices were found in the search, though a barrel of petrol was recovered. All five were released on police bail a day later, raising questions about what they had been doing.
Afterwards, the US president Donald Trump said he was “surprised” the five men had been allowed to go out on bail. “We know everything about them, we would not have released them,” he said.
Andy Burnham, the prime minister, has been more muted. Last week he said there were “strong indications that Iran played a part” in the incident, but developments in the British investigation, led by counter-terror police, have been limited.
A sixth man, a dual UK-Iranian national was arrested in Westminster, London, on Thursday on suspicion of preparing acts of terrorism, but he was also released on police bail on Saturday. Investigations into the circumstances surrounding the events in Gloucestershire were continuing, counter-terror police added.
